EXistenZ

Infobox Film
name = eXistenZ


caption = Original film poster for eXistenZ
director = David Cronenberg
producer = David Cronenberg
Andras Hamori
Robert Lantos
writer = David Cronenberg
starring = Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jude Law
Ian Holm
Willem Dafoe
Don McKellar
Callum Keith Rennie
Christopher Eccleston
Sarah Polley
music = Howard Shore
cinematography = Peter Suschitzky
editing = Ronald Sanders
distributor = Alliance Atlantis
released = February 16, 1999
runtime = 97 min.
country = flag|Canada
language = English
budget = CAD 31,000,000 (estimated)
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
imdb_id = 0120907
amg_id = 1:176055

"eXistenZ" is a 1999 psychological thriller/science fiction film by Canadian director David Cronenberg. It stars Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law.

András Hámori and Róbert Lantos (two producers of the film who are both of Hungarian origin) said in an interview that they intentionally hid a pun in the title: "isten" is the word for "God" in Hungarian. This is why the X and Z are capitalized in the title of "eXistenZ", to single out the word "isten". [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/trivia eXistenZ (1999) - Trivia ] ]

Plot

Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is the greatest game designer in the world and testing her latest virtual reality game, eXistenZ, with a focus group in a large hall. The game is fully immersive; to play, players must plug a 'pod', a bio-organic gaming device, into a 'bio-port' near the bottom of the spine.

As they begin, Geller is attacked by an assassin armed with a bizarre organic gun which is undetectable by security. Fearing other assassins, she flees with marketing trainee Ted Pikul (Jude Law), who is suddenly assigned as her bodyguard. Unfortunately her pod, containing the only copy of the eXistenZ game, is damaged in the assassination attempt. To inspect it, she talks a reluctant Pikul into accepting a bio-port in his own body so he can play the game with her. The results lead the pair on a strange adventure where it becomes impossible to tell if their actions are their own, or the will of the game, and impossible to tell if they are in the game, or in the real world.

Cast

*Jennifer Jason Leigh as Allegra Geller
*Jude Law as Ted Pikul
*Ian Holm as Kiri Vinokur
*Willem Dafoe as Gas
*Don McKellar as Yevgeny Nourish
*Callum Keith Rennie as Hugo Carlaw
*Christopher Eccleston as the Seminar Leader
*Sarah Polley as Merle
*Robert A. Silverman as D'Arcy Nader
*Oscar Hsu as the Chinese waiter
*Kris Lemche as Noel Dichter
*Vik Sahay as Male Assistant
*Kirsten Johnson as Female Assistant
*James Kirchner as Landry
*Balázs Koós as Male Volunteer
*Stephanie Belding as Female Volunteer
*Gerry Quigley as Trout Farm worker

Trivia

*The repeated use of lines starting with "Death to...," such as "Death to the demoness Allegra Geller!" and "Death to eXistenZ!" is a reference to a series of lines from writer-director David Cronenberg's earlier film Videodrome, in which characters repeatedly say "Death to Videodrome--long live the New Flesh!" (via [http://www.sho.com/site/homepage/index.html Showtime] )

Reception

Awards

1999

Berlin Film Festival
* won, Silver Bear: David Cronenberg
* Nominated, Golden Bear: David Cronenberg

Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival
* won, Silver Scream: David Cronenberg

2000

Genie Awards
* won, Best Achievement in Editing: Ronald Sanders
* Nominated, Best Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design: Carol Spier, Elinor Rose Galbraith
* Nominated, Best Motion Picture: David Cronenberg, Robert Lantos, Andras Hamori

Golden Reel Awards
* Nominated, Best Sound Editing in a Foreign Feature: David Evans, Wayne Griffin, Mark Gingras, John Laing, Tom Bjelic, Paul Shikata

Saturn Awards
* Nominated, Best Science Fiction Film

Novelizations

Christopher Priest wrote the tie-in novel to accompany the movie "eXistenZ", the theme of which has much in common with some of Priest's own novels. He uses the pseudonyms John Luther Novak and Colin Wedgelock, usually for his movie novelizations.

References

ee also

* Existentialism
* Post-structuralism and Destabilized meaning
* Alternate reality game (ARG)
* Ludology
* Simulated reality
* Lucid dreaming

External links

*imdb title|id=0120907|title=eXistenZ
*rotten-tomatoes|id=existenz|title=eXistenZ
* [http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/existenz Metacritic: "eXistenZ"]